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Elton John bids farewell to the road with the last show on his goodbye tour

Elton John preformed to over 6 million fans across 330 shows in his farewell tour.
Leon Neal
/
Getty Images
Elton John preformed to over 6 million fans across 330 shows in his farewell tour.

With glitz, glam and golden confetti, Elton John performed on tour for the last time on Saturday.

The final concert was set in Stockholm, Sweden. It wrapped up the British singer's "Farewell Yellow Brick Road" tour, which spanned over five years, 330 shows and 16 Gucci suits. The tour is considered the highest-grossing in Billboard Boxscore history. Last month, it became the first tour ever to make more than $900 million.

"What a journey this tour has been and now we find ourselves at the end of it," John wrote on Instagram before the show.

The show included several of John's signature songs, including Tiny Dancer, Rocket Man and Candle in the Wind.

In heart-shaped pink sunglasses, he thanked his fans for their support throughout the decades.

"You have no idea what it means to me, your kindness. I've had the most wonderful career," he said. "How lucky am I to play music. But I wouldn't be sitting here and talking to you if it wasn't for you."

The worldwide, farewell tour kicked off in 2018, but was forced to pause in 2020 for nearly two-years due to the pandemic. Last month, the 76-year-old gave his final U.K. performance while headlining the Glastonbury Festival.

In 2021, the international pop star told NPR that he looked forward to retiring from tour so that he could spend more time with his children.

"Ten years ago, I was going to just tour and make records. And I had nothing planned for the rest of my life except making music and touring," John said. "And then we had two fabulous little boys. And then David, my husband, said, well, what do you want out of life now? Do you still want to tour? I said, no, I don't."

He later said, "As much as I love playing, I want to be with my boys now. I want to be there for them."

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Juliana Kim
Juliana Kim is a weekend reporter for Digital News, where she adds context to the news of the day and brings her enterprise skills to NPR's signature journalism.